Shadow, Before the One
by Thomas Hobbes
Summary: This is about the 5th personification of the anamoly in the Matrix, ive been out of the fafic scene for a looong time so i this might suc
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THIS MATERIAL  
  
The Setting: Over a hundred years before the first Matrix movie. New York, N.Y.  
  
The rain fell hard. Andrew Thompson was walking down the wet street, holding a newspaper over his head, trying to stay dry. He had just lost his job. He was a programmer for a major company, but he had been fired because of his frequent lateness. The Truth was Andy was a hacker, during the day he wrote programs, at night he broke them. He did all of this under the alias Shadow. As Shadow he was somebody, well known for his hacking prowess and ability. As Andrew Thompson, he was a slacker and good-for-nothing. He sighed, he had received a warning last night from an anonymous "friend" who told him they were looking for him. Andy had no idea who this informant could be. The one thing that stood out in his mind was the last phrase of the message he read; "The Matrix has you." That gave Andy the chill the rain could not. He dropped the newspaper in the trash. He notice in the trash was a cell phone. He picked it up, and it started to ring. Surprised he answered it, "Hello?" "Shadow, this is Cosmo." Cosmo. The well-known terrorist. Cosmo, the man the cops were trying to find. The man whose name was all over the net and newspapers. "What do you want with me?" Shadow asked. "Shadow, I am going to tell you something you may not believe. You are being followed. Don't look back, look at that building in front of you." Sure enough Andy looked at the glass, and reflected in it was a black car. "What do I do?" Andy whispered nervously. "I want you to start running when I tell you.. NOW!!" Andy ran for his life still holding the phone close to his ear. He looked behind him and saw a woman and a man welding automatic pistols fire mercilessly at the car. Andy dropped the phone. He ran blindly. His heart was fluttering. Suddenly he ran into something. He fell on his butt. Looking up he saw a man in a black suit with a strange earpiece. He said "C'mon son, come with us." A squad car pulled us and Andy was led away. The woman watching form atop a building with her sniper rifle stopped aiming and swore "Shit". Then She got up and walked away. 


	2. Awakening

Andy sat in the interrogation room, fidgeting in his chair. Suddenly three smartly dressed men entered the room. All three wore the exact same sunglasses and suit. The one in the middle, who Andy figured was the leader sat down across from Andy.  
"Mr. Thompson", the man said slowly, reminding Andy of his high school English teacher, "I am Agent Smith, the two behind me are Agents Brown and Jones, and we want to ask you a few questions."  
Andy was about to ask from what organization but Smith gave him no time.  
"Is it true you are Andrew A Thompson, age 30, graduate of West view High School as well as Davison's College?" Smith asked without looking at any thing to help him, it was as if he knew it all already.  
"Yes" Andy said.  
"Hmm interesting, you are one man with two different lives," Smith said looking at the file he held in front of him, "One is the life I just stated, a normal life, the other, less admirable life is lived under the name Shadow where you hack into computers and perform heinous crimes against the cyber world." Smith removed his sunglasses, "Mr. Thompson you are a dangerous man, one that could prove useful to the forces of terror and sleaze, and do you know whom I am talking about?"  
Andy looked up at Smith and said, "Cosmo."  
Smith nodded "Indeed, we know he has contacted you. I must warn you he will exploit your talents. You will be used as a tool of mass mayhem and carnage, that is why I ask you to help us bring a deadly man to justice and right all of his wrongs."  
Andy looked at Smith, "I can't help you"  
"I believe you can," Smith said rising. He motioned to the other two and suddenly they had pinned Andy to the table and taken of his t-shirt. Andy struggled against the impossible strength of two men, no one was that strong. Andy began to yell for help, fearing for his life.  
Smith looked at him and smiled. Andy felt his mouth disappear. He still fought as Smith placed a strange bug-thing on his belly. Andy screamed as it burrowed into his bellybutton..  
  
Andy screamed as he woke up, sweaty in his own bed. He sat up. He lifted up his shirt looking for that little bug. Nothing. Suddenly there was a knock at his door. He opened it.  
In the doorway stood one of the most beautiful women Andy had ever seen. She was Hispanic, and she wore her long hair in knob-like braids on her head. She wore black sunglasses, and she wore black trench coat over a tight black suit. Behind he stood a black man also wearing a trench coat and all black.  
The woman looked Andy right in the eyes. Then she spoke, "Shadow, come with us, he is waiting."  
"Who?" Andy asked  
"Cosmo, he wants to see you, now."  
Andy looked at the woman back. Then he said, "Sure."  
  
They arrived at the warehouse. Andy and his companions left the car. Andy felt weird; in the car they had used some suction thing to get the bug out of him. It had hurt like hell, but it still felt weird. They walked up a few flights. Finally they were at the top floor. The beautiful woman opened the door and Andy saw a figure. Cosmo. He was wearing, in contrast to his companions, all white, white shirt, white trench coat, white tie. He had a few wrinkles crisscrossing his Asian face. He was not tall at all, but Andy suddenly felt respect right away. "Welcome Shadow." Cosmo said. He motioned to a chair, "Please sit down." Andy did as he was told. "Shadow, why are you here?" "You told me to." "No, I mean why. You could have easily refused. Yet you chose to come to me. You were well aware of my reputation. And you still came, why?" "I guess.I guess I wanted answers." "To what questions?" "Well, my first is, what is the Matrix?" Cosmo nodded, as if he had heard this question hundreds of times. "The Matrix is. well I cannot tell you what it is. I can only show you, but now is not the time. You see we have many enemies." "You haven't answered my question." Cosmo grinned, "Alright, but as I already stated, it is impossible to tell one what it is. I must show you, but first I must ask, do you want to know what it is?' Andy looked him straight in his tinted-glass-covered eyes. "Yes." Cosmo pulled a small case out of his trench coat. He opened it and saw it carried two small pills. A red and a blue. "Since it was choice that brought you to me, it is fit for you to choose you're fate. You take the red pill, and all will be clear. You take the blue pill, and you forget all of this, and you go home and live your peaceful life. Your choice, but I must warn you.once you make a choice you can NEVER go back." Andy looked at the pills for a minute and after a moment took the red and swallowed it. One of Cosmo's assistants gave him a glass of water, and Andy drunk it down. Cosmo stood up and said, "Come." Andy followed him into a room full of computers.  
  
They sat him down in a chair and stuck suction-cups wit h wires to his forehead and forearms. Cosmo said something about them tracking his real location, but Andy was feeling dizzy, he was also feeling strange, like he was dreaming. Then Andy looked around him; things were swimming around, changing. Cosmo must have noticed all the strange things, because he was pointing them out to the rest of the team. Suddenly he heard a phone ring and then, he woke up.  
  
He was in some sort of slimy goo. He sat up. Andy. Yes that's who he was. He looked around, he was stark naked. And there were cords coming out of him He was in some sort of pod, and then he looked over the edge. There were millions of other pods, filled with other people. His heart pounded, what the hell was going on here? Suddenly a robot came down in front of him. He looked at it as it made a funny sound. PAIN!! He felt pain as each cord exploded out of him. The pain was extreme but faded quickly. Then the robot held out a robotic claw and grabbed him by the neck. Then he felt another claw unscrew the cord in from the back of his head. When it came out Andy fell limp. Then the goo got sucked down a tube and so did he. This didn't make sense, what was happening?!? Andy fell and fell. Until he fell into a pool. And he felt too weak to swim. Suddenly a light came overhead. He looked up to see a claw, like one from a crane game come down and pick him up. He was being lifted. Finally he reached the top. He saw a face, a funny looking man. He tried to ask what was happening. The man said "Welcome to the real world Shadow." Cosmo, that was the funny man's name.. 


End file.
